Deuteronomy 10:5, commentary and pictures

Moses turned and came down from the mountain and placed the two stone tablets in the wooden chest he had made, where they remained as the Lord had commanded him. They were the second set given after the first were broken, newly hewn by Moses and inscribed a second time by God's own finger exactly as before. What was written and laid up in the ark was the ten commandments spoken by the Lord at Sinai from the midst of the fire in the day of assembly. The chest was a sacred depository made in the wilderness to hold that law, becoming the glory and strength of Israel because the token of the Divine Presence rested upon it and it represented God Himself. There the law was hidden and preserved in divine keeping rather than human keeping, to justify the obedient and condemn the disobedient as the sacred basis of the covenant and the holy standard of righteousness. That same law is kept in the heavenly sanctuary in the ark of the testament, to be brought forth when judgment begins as an unanswerable witness by which all will be judged according to their works.

Tables Placed in Ark

Moses turned and came down from the mount and put the two tables of stone in the ark of shittim wood, of wood, which he had made, and there they remained as the Lord commanded him. The placing was of the second set of the covenant tablets, given after Moses broke the first tables. Moses hewed two new tables of stone like the first, and God wrote on them a second time with His own finger, indelibly, according to the first writing, and preserved His commandments.

What was written was the ten commandments, the law spoken by the Lord at Sinai, out of the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. God came down to give His people counsel precept by precept, commandment by commandment, given to Moses, and that counsel was written upon tables of stone and put in the ark of the testimony to be immortalized. The tablets contained the law spoken at Sinai and written by God's finger.

The ark of God was a sacred wilderness-made chest made to be the depository of the ten commandments. It was the glory and strength of Israel, with the token of the Divine Presence abiding upon it day and night, and the priests who ministered before it were sacredly consecrated to their holy office. The law in the ark symbolized God's presence, and that law represents God himself.

The ark remained with Israel through the forty-year journey from Horeb and was later in the Tabernacle at Jerusalem. Before Jerusalem fell, righteous men still in the city placed that sacred ark holding the tables of stone on which were traced the precepts of the Decalogue beyond the reach of ruthless hands by secreting it with mourning and sadness in a cave. Because of the sins of Israel and Judah it was hidden from them and was to be no more restored to them. That sacred ark is yet hidden and has never been disturbed since it was secreted.

Law Preserved for Judgment

There in the ark the law was hidden and preserved, entrusted to the ark rather than to human keeping, to justify the obedient and condemn the disobedient, so that those who choose to disobey will surely receive sentence according to their works. The law thus preserved remained the sacred basis of Israel's covenant, whose terms the people were to know and accept as they entered Canaan. It is the holy standard of righteousness and of obedience, including the Sabbath as a sign of loyalty to God.

The commandments are to be understood and obeyed, and God's promises connected with them are to be repeated again and again, with the blessings of obedience and the warnings against transgression and disobedience kept before the people. Departure from its right principles blinds the understanding as to what is truth. Yet the ark itself had no power to protect Israel when the people despised the commandments it contained, for victory depended on honoring God through obedience, not on treating the ark as a source of power in itself.

The law is also kept in the heavenly sanctuary, in the ark of the testament, as a witness to the truth and binding claims of God's law. When judgment begins and the books are opened it will be brought forth and displayed before the world as an unanswerable witness against transgressors. It is the standard by which people are judged, while the record of their deeds determines their sentence according to their works, whether good or evil.

In the last great day the law will appear before the obedient and the disobedient, and all the wicked will be convicted by it. They will see that their actions proceeded from a depraved character, that the part they acted served to carry on the rebellion begun in the heavenly courts, and that they will see all the cruelty and wickedness that dishonored their Creator and brought about the wretchedness that fills the world. Sentence will then be pronounced against every evil, seducing science produced by the father of lies. The law they disobeyed was their life, for obedience to it would have made their characters as fine gold and their principles as the golden wedge of Ophir, would have kept them in happiness and peace, and would have borne fruit in sanctified love and beauty of character, filling the world with holiness and purity.